Material handling apparatus



July 14, 1959 P. HOLLANDER ETAL 2,894,780

MATERIAL HANDLING APPARATUS I Filed Sept. 23, 1955 FIG. I

FIG. 2

m R0 SM W mm m TL N N R E0 v nw N. n bY M w. 5w

United States Patent MATERIAL HANDLING APPARATUS Louis Preston Hollander, Patterson, and Raymond A.

Schroth, Pawling, N.Y., assiguors to The Presray Corporation, Pawling, N.Y., a corporation of New York Application September 23, 1955, Serial No. 536,152

' 2 Claims. (Cl. 294-93) This invention relates to a sling supported material handling apparatus, and more particularly to one designed for use advantageously in lifting individual bulky articles, especially those of a fragile nature, such as green grinding wheels. While the particular apparatus hereinafter specifically described was designed initially specifically for handling such grinding Wheels, its utility is not limited thereto but may extend to the lifting of any circular article or, if modified in a manner hereinafter referred to, for lifting articles of other shapes.

In the manufacture of grinding wheels a wheel is first molded and following removal from the mold, baked to acquire the necessary structural rigidity and hardness for use. It has been customary in the past to manually transfer a green wheel from a mold to a baking kiln. In the case of industrial grinding Wheels, which may weigh upwards of 400 or 500 pounds each, the amount of labor involved in this transfer is necessarily large, frequently involving the elforts of five or six laborers. It is the principal object of our invention to obviate the necessity for such labor consuming handling of the green grinding wheels by the provision of a handling apparatus easily operable by but one person.

A further object of our invention is to provide such an apparatus which will not damage the green grinding wheel during engagement therewith, despite its fragility, and will support it, once lifted, with the assurance that it will not be accidentally released.

In accordance with our invention, such handling apparatus comprises a substantially endless article-engaging fluid actuated expandable member adapted to completely surround an article to be lifted, means detachably secured to the expandable member for lifting it, fluid control means mounted on the detachable lifting means, and a fluid conduit for operatively connecting the fluid control means to the expandable member to supply fluid thereto.

More specifically, our novel material-handling apparatus comprises an endless, hollow tubular member adapted to substantially completely surround an article to be handled and made of a flexible resilient material, such as rubber, whereby it is expandable. A circular U-shaped channel member, having its mouth directed inwardly, is provided to support the expandable member and limit the direction of its expansion to a direction inwardly toward an article to be lifted. It further includes a sling, the legs of which at their free ends are adapted to be detachably secured to the channel supporting member. A fluid control unit is supported by the sling independently of the expandable tubular member and its supporting channel (which may be termed the lifting unit) the support therefor being adjustable to accommodate use of the sling and control unit with lifting members of different sizes. Lastly the apparatus includes a flexible conduit for operatively connecting the fluid control unit to the tubular expandable member so as to provide fluid to the latter to effect an expansion thereof.

For a more detailed understanding of our invention, reference may be made to the following specific descrip- 2,894,780 Patented July 14, 1959 tion of a form of our invention particularly suitable for handling cylindrical articles, and particularly such articles as green grinding wheels, and to the accompanying drawings illustrating it and in which:

Fig. 1 is an elevation of the apparatus illustrating it in operable condition about to be lowered over an article such as a grinding wheel; and

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken along line 22 of Fig. 1 and illustrating in more detail the construction of the tube-like expandable member and its channel support, which together form what We term the lifting unit, this figure further showing the manner in which the fluid conduit is operatively connected to the expandable member.

By reference to the drawing, and particularly to Fig. 2 thereof, the lifting uni-t, identified generally by the numeral 10, comprises an annular U-shaped channel member 11, the open side of which faces inwardly. It supports an annular tubular member 12, substantially rectangular in cross section, made of rubber or other resilient material. The opposite sides of tubular member 12 which lie adjacent the arms of channel member-11 when the former is positioned Within the latter, as illustrated, have extending therefrom rib-like protrusions 13 which serve to aid in the mounting and dismounting of the expandable member in the channel member. A fitting 14 pierces the bottom of channel member 10 and the adjacent wall of tubular member 12 to provide for the admission of fluid-4n the present case compressed air to the interior of member 12 and the emission of the same therefrom. For the reasons set forth hereinbelow, fitting 14 comprises a part of a quick coupling having a check valve operable, when the other portion of the quick coupling indicated, generally by the reference numeral 15 is removed, to prevent emission of air or other fluid from within tubular member 12. The other portion 15 of the quick coupling is carried on the end of a flexible fluid conduit 16.

As illustrated in Fig. 1, channel member 11 is provided with a plurality of lifting lugs 17 by which it may be detachably secured to a sling identified in Fig. 1 generally by the reference numeral 20. It is adapted to be lowered by the sling over a cylindrical object such as the grinding wheel 21 illustrated in phantom. To assist both in the proper positioning of the lifting unit in a vertical direction with respect to the grinding wheel to be lifted as well as to serve as a resilient guide to aid in properly lowering the lifting unit over the grinding wheel, the tube-like expandable member 12 is provided with a depending flared portion 23 integral with and extending from the front wall 24 of member 12 and terminating in a reinforcing rim 25. Hence in use the lifting unit may be lowered over the green grinding wheel without fear of damage to the edge of the latter by engagement with a hard surface such as an edge of channel member 11 and may be properly positioned for expansion of member 12 by being lowered until the reinforcing rim 25 of the depending portion 23 of the expandable member engages the surface supporting the grinding wheel.

Sling 20 comprises a lift ring 30 and a plurality of wire rope or chain legs 31 on the outer end of each of which is secured a hook 32 adapted to pass through an opening in a lug 17 for detachable securement thereto. Intermediate its length each leg 31 is provided with a collar 33 fixedly secured thereto to support thereon the outer end of a tubular member 34, which outer end is pierced by the leg 31. Tubular member 34 is part of a telescopically expandable supporting rod, the other member 35 of which is. secured to a supporting casing 36 adapted to support a conventional pressure regulator indicated generally by the reference numeral 37 and of the pressure reducing type. Casing 36 surrounds a cylindrical glass portion of the regulator in which is con- -.2 tained a filtering unit which may be viewed from exteriorly of casing 36 through a window 38. By reason of the telescopically expandable nature of the supporting members for the pressure regulator, the sling 20 with the control unit, including the pressure regulator, is adaptable for use with lifting units of varying size without further modification. Provision is made, though not illustrated, to prevent inadvertent removal of rods 35 from tubular members 34 which might result in a dropping of the control unit.

The control unit, including pressure regulator 37 also includes a pressure gauge 40 for indicating the line or source pressure of the fluid supplied to the regulator through a conventional quick coupling 42 (which also includes an automatic check valve preventing return flow or venting when the quick coupling is parted) and a fluid supply conduit 43, A pressure gauge 44 is provided to indicate the discharge pressure of the regulator which may be adjusted to the desired value by means of an adjusting handle 45 of the regulator. Flexible conduit 16 heretofore referred to is connected by a quick coupling 16 to a two-Way valve 41 and by the latter to the discharge side of pressure regulator 37 and conducts fluid under the regulated reduced pressure to expandable member 12.

In accordance with our recommended procedure for use of the illustrated apparatus, the lifting unit is lowered over an article to be raised with the various components of the fluid control system in their conditions, as shown. Valve 41 is then operated to supply air at the regulated reduced pressure through flexible conduit 16 to expandable member 12. When the latter has been expanded to engage the article to be lifted, we recommend that the quick coupling be broken to effect a maintenance of the pressure in the expandable member by reason of the operation of the check valve therein despite any change in pressure in the supply line 43, for example, as a result of a line break. This assures that the article will not be dropped in transit as a result of an exhausting or leakage of the air from expandable member 12. When the article has been transported to its destination the quick coupling adjacent the expandable member is reassembled and valve 41 operated to effect a venting through regulator 37 of expandable member 12.

Various changes and modifications may of course be made in the specific apparatus illustrated and described above without departing from our invention, the scope 4t of which rather should be limited only to the extent set forth in the appended claims. For example, it will be clear that our invention contemplates lifting units in other than annular form for lifting various articles other than those cylindrical in shape. When the lifting apparatus is employed as suggested for use in connection with the handling of industrial grinding wheels it is usually provided with five different size lifting units 10, one for each standard size of grinding wheel, the conventionally smallest standard size being 24 inches in diameter and the largest inches in diameter, though other sizes too are manufactured.

We claim:

1. A lifting unit for an article handling apparatus comprising an endless expandable tube-like inflatable member formed of resilient material and defining an annulus, said member having front, back and side Walls integrally connected to form a substantially rectangular cross section, and a channel member of annular form confining the expansion of said expandable member to a direction towards an article to be lifted, said channel member having axially spaced arms extending radially to confine the side walls of said expandable member and forming the sole means of supporting said expandable member, the side walls of the expandable member engaging said axially spaced arms substantially throughout their radial extent.

2. A lifting unit according to claim 1 which includes an annular depending flared skirt portion integral with the front wall of the expandable member and extending axially and radially therefrom to form a guide and bumper to facilitate reception by the expandable member of an article to be gripped.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,505,626 Debaecker Aug. 19, 1924 1,846,038 Owens -2 Feb. 23, 1932 1,966,199 Cofley July 10, 1934 2,020,174 Derossi Nov. 5, 1935 2,188,672 thinson Jan. 30, 1940 2,375,747 Brown May 15, 1945 2,609,113 Huffman Sept. 2, 1952 2,634,998 Flower Apr. 14, 1953 2,676,052 Mittry Apr. 20, 1954 2,736,600 Carlson Feb. 28, 1956 2,756,883 Schreck July 31, 1956 

